my desired $4000-$5000 build specs...Lil' Help on build components?

Anomaly88

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Sep 15, 2014
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Hi Guys,
I'm currently about to spend a good amount on a workstation system.
Price $4000 - $5000

I'm an experienced 3D animator, Motion graphics artist, generalist, etc.
We have a nice sized green screen that we've created at our collective artist warehouse.
I am amped to get things on the road with an LLC we're forming, have a slew of grassroots clients to cater on our initial efforts.

The PRIME purpose of this workstation would be for LIVE motion reading / capture / motion transfer to high detail characters during high quality live display (through projection mapping) with quality shading, high res, texured, detailed automated pro caliber performance based CG pupeteering.

Secondary, an initially most often used, would be extensive use of MAYA, ZBrush, After Effects, Premiere, Nuke etc..

I'm very interested in getting the best performance of my monitor's refresh rate at the highest resolution possible.
I've researched the past 5 months heavily into the 4K factor, tech specs, product releases etc around that topic, and am very interested in the new DisplayPort 1.3 release.
Question is, should I wait till Graphics boards are released supporting that entirely, then buy, or get something a notch down, and upgrade, then sell my initially bought card model?

most best high-end CPU for my purposes...
proper RAM expandability, (want a minimum of 64 gigs) so further than that potentially...
Boot Drive, SSDs... pro mobo... cooling.. overclocking...
BADASS GPUs
if this can be done in a rack mount, all the better.

So many things to figure out when so many new models are poised for production... Just don't want to make this build, then regret not holding out on certain elements that would keep me behind later in the game.

This is a ONE TIME DEAL. My investor is situating our finances at a certain time.
Post-holidays bargain prospects have wetted my pallet, yet I need to get the show on the road regarding having this workstation up and running within a month...

So please,
anyone out there with the creativity, knowledge and interest...
please suggest some ultra-high-end workstation build scenarios for me.

Help me tom's-forum-peoples-kenobi.
yous me only hopes.
 
Solution

N, it wouldn't be the best bang for buck as they cost 3000$ each and having two would exceed your budget. And, as Skylyne...
This 12-core beast will CRUSH ANY i7 CPu you throw at it:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2650L V3 1.8GHz 12-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($1469.99 @ Mwave)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler ($74.74 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus X99-E WS SSI CEB LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($519.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($208.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PNY Quadro 6000 6GB Video Card ($1205.86 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Nineteen Hundred Red ATX Full Tower Case ($189.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $4388.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-08 16:35 EDT-0400
It has a very good Asus workstation motherboard ( it might be a bit overkill, though:))
The air cooling is excellent, one of, if not THE best
32 GB of RAM so you won`t have to upghrade for at least a few years
Lots of SSD and HDD storage
THE best workstation graphics card with 6 GB of VRAM, any better would have to be the Titan Z
An excellent PSU
And, you still have 700$ of leeway to get whatever monitor you want. if you need suggestions, ask away!
 

Anomaly88

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Sep 15, 2014
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Hi zeyuanfu!
Thanks for a suggestion.
I'm thinking I'm looking to go with dual titan z's
thing is .. just really focussing on the whole.. processor / mobo issue here.. compatibility, and what's going to get me absolute efficiency here.
I'm looking at this case right now...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119265
(things gonna be a beeeeasssst... with complete expandability potential...
mobo needs to have ram upgradability to 128GB eventually few years down the road.

question... why'd you pick PNY and Crucial? Averted from corsair predator? was that for price configuration?
thnx!
 

Skylyne

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Sep 7, 2014
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Stick with workstation GPUs, and avoid gaming GPUs. While the gaming GPUs may give off better benchmarks for the money, the native support for consumer cards has been shrinking over the years. Take a look at the AutoDesk Certified Hardware page, and you'll notice that there has been some diminishing support for consumer GPUs. One example is AutoCAD 2014 went from supporting 8 consumer NVIDIA cards (older, but still consumer cards), to supporting none in the 2015 version. Maya 2015 only supports the 690 and the Titan. How long will AutoDesk support the Titan cards? I have no idea. Would I count on it being supported in the 2016 revision? No; however, it would be wise of them to keep it supported.

With a workstation GPU, you will undoubtedly have better performance, as they are meant to handle the kind of work you plan on doing. I've heard some positive reviews on using consumer cards for various workstation uses (namely AutoDesk programs), and it seems as if the reviews get spotty. Certain programs may work with the GPU better than others, but overall consumer hardware support seems unreliable. If you want to make sure your computer can be reliable for your uses, then get a workstation card. With that in mind, here's a link to a review on a few of the new NVIDIA Quadro GPUs- http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/nvidia-quadro-k5200-k4200-k2200.html

If I could give you any other information, I would... but that's all I can say without having a hunch I'd shoot myself in the foot.
 

N, it wouldn't be the best bang for buck as they cost 3000$ each and having two would exceed your budget. And, as Skylyne said, Quadros are the best for workstations as they ave drivers specifically designed for what you do on workstations.I actually try to avoid Cooler Master cases sometimes as they can be a bit cheap and sometimes crap. For example, the HAF 912 case supports only Cooler Master liquid coolers and not Corsair ones. Of course, if you're a Cooler Master fanboy, sure, go for it. Also, that case is a test bench... You might want a mid or full tower.

I picked PNY as they were kinda THE ONLY brand to sell Quadro cards...
I picked Crucial as, yes, they are more cost-effective than Corsair. Upgrading to Corsair will take 100-200$ for probably the same speed as the Crucial RAM in the build I posted.
 
Solution